January 26, 2016 10:32 AM UTC

BREAKING: Controversy Rocks GOP HD-25 Vacancy

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

In the wake of Tim Leonard’s victory in the GOP Colorado House District 25 vacancy committee selection this past weekend, dissidents led by ubiquitous conservative watchdog Marilyn Marks are challenging the process by which the members of the vacancy committee were organized. A Facebook post from Florence Urbish Sebern, a Republican activist in Denver, appears to allege that the vacancy committee was altered just before the vote:

This message was evidently in response to former Sen. Ted Harvey’s defense of the process:

Obviously, Harvey’s admission that the committee list that was filed with the Colorado Secretary of State “was not correct” raises big and very appropriate red flags–even is he claims it is “all good.” We have to note that Republican vacancy committee hearings are routinely fraught with controversy, but this could be something more than the usual tit-for-tat. What we’ve heard suggests that they can’t stop Rep. Tim Leonard from taking office, but a lawsuit could cause much intraparty friction in the coming weeks and months.

All of which calls into question the decision of Jon Keyser to resign this seat. In addition to resulting in a coup for the growing power base of Keyser’s U.S. Senate primary opponent Tim Neville, Keyser’s vacancy could be reopening wounds within the Colorado GOP that among other things won’t help his aspirations for higher office.

Stay tuned, we’ll update as the story develops.